Restricting freedoms in the name of safety and security can go too far.

Take this recent tech support call from a family member. She hadn't been able to get on the internet for days. She called Comcast, which provides her cable modem. Things looked fine on their side, they said. They suggested something on her computer wasn't working right. Using Firefox instead of Internet Explorer as the web browser might be the problem, they offered.

Having used this Windows XP computer myself, I'm familar with all the popups that the ZoneAlarm security utility generates. "Someone is trying to attack your computer on Port 80. Do you want to allow it? [YES] [NO]".

The Ritchie family had a classic computer problem to solve. They had used digital camera which didn't "just work" with either Linux or Windows in their home. The photos from the camera showed up on both, but didn't download properly on either.

They needed help from a geek.

After an afternoon of conversation and pie, the camera was working flawlessly with Linux, and no better on Windows. Here's why.

Showing Up

Linux got the the geek to show up. If you've got a modern Ford Taurus, and a '67 Ford Mustang, which one do you think your local shade tree mechanic will want to give you some free help with?

I'd seen Windows XP from a distance, but I hadn't really visited until last night. Sure, I'd been a tourist, browsing on a Internet Explorer to see how it rendered, but I'd never stayed long enough to have a meaningful experience, like installing a new applications for myself, or trying to get a new piece of hardware to work with it.

So last night I had the chance to visit the land of Windows XP, helping setup a laptop to be more functional and secure. There were some pleasant sights to see: XP has a bit of eye-candy built-in, with dropshows here and there, and menus that fade in and out.

Soon I saw the signs that as a resident of Linuxland, I was in a different culture. It's a bit like having visited Europe and noticing the that cars are smaller, the washing machines are smaller and by golly, some of the beaches are really different.

So was my experience with Windows XP.